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Modern-Day Simon of Cyrene (6564)

Celebrating 5 Years With Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate his fifth anniversary as pope April 19.

It’s clear by now that he won’t get the same treatment on that day that he did for his other anniversaries. For the world’s media, this one will be another opportunity to try to taint his reputation by pinning on him the lion’s share of the blame for the developing abuse scandal.

Many Catholics know that the evidence shows Pope Benedict has probably done more than any other bishop to reach out to victims and root out what he has called “filth” from the Church. Those Catholics are frustrated. Other Catholics, who get their news about the Church from the secular media, are confused or even scandalized.

The question, of course, is why we — people of faith — should let the secular media define for us what a pope is and what our attitude towards him should be. Why should a non-believing journalist on the religion beat be more credible than a cardinal or a pope, or St. Catherine of Siena, who called the pope the ‘sweet Christ on Earth’?

Right now, Catholics are the ones who most need to be reminded what their pope is.

On the rock of Peter our Church is built. To him and his successors — Christ’s vicars — have been entrusted the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. The pope is the visible foundation of the Church. Christ prayed for him that his faith might not fail, that he might strengthen his brethren.

Voices in the media tell us that Pope Benedict is presiding over an unprecedented disaster. The truth is that he’s presiding over the greatest success story of all time: The grace of the sacraments and the power of the Resurrection are reaching a billion Catholics worldwide under his pastoral care.

Right now, Catholics are the ones who most need to be reminded how much this pope has done for them. His ministry and his teaching have opened the eyes and hearts of more than 10 million pilgrims at events in Rome, and he has taken it to five continents on pastoral visits. We think that’s a good start.

The big story here is how much God has worked through him in his first five years as Pope. That’s why we began to commission short essays to honor him for his anniversary just a few weeks ago. Those essays are now taking on a meaning and depth we couldn’t have imagined. We’re fortunate to have this man leading us, and these essays tell why.

We stand by that story. And we stand by our Holy Father. So we hope you enjoy reading these tributes as much as we did.

— The Editors

BY ARCHBISHOP CELESTINO MIGLIORE

Archbishop Celestino Migliore has been the apostolic nuncio and the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations since 2002.

At the height of the storm that is sweeping the Barque of Peter with the sordid and reprehensible waves of scandal wrought by some members of the Church, one reporter rightly has compared Pope Benedict XVI to the evangelical figure of Simon of Cyrene forced to carry the cross on the Via Crucis of the Catholic community for the good of the Church.

The comparison is confirmed when we consider the circumstances at the time of his election to the papacy five years ago: his age, his plans to retire to study and reflect, his not being exactly in the peak of health.

Pope Benedict, like Simon of Cyrene, carries the cross without attracting attention to himself, but holding up to the world continually the figure of Christ. Not only because as pope he wrote a book on Jesus and is preparing a second, but also because each of his pronouncements — be it a discourse, message, catechesis or homily — orient the gaze of man on God and speak of God’s view of humanity.

This is the style of governance of Pope Benedict XVI. He explained it himself recently during the Wednesday general audience of March 10 speaking of St. Bonaventure, observing in an almost autobiographical way: “We see that for St. Bonaventure governance was not merely doing something; above all, it was thinking and praying. At the basis of his way of governing we always find prayer and thought. All of his decisions were the result of reflection, of thought illuminated by prayer. His work as minister general was always accompanied by intimate contact with Christ. For this reason, he composed a series of theological and mystical writings that express the core of his governance and manifest his intention to guide the order interiorly, that is, not only through commands and structures, but by guiding and illuminating souls, directing them to Christ.”

To a world fragmented culturally, politically and socially, desperately in search of coexistence on the basis of the old principle “as if God did not exist,” he urges both believers and nonbelievers to live and act “as if God does exist.”

“It should never be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one’s rights,” he stated while visiting the United Nations in 2008. “Those rights are grounded and shaped by the transcendent nature of the person, which permits men and women to pursue their journey of faith and their search for God in this world. Recognition of this dimension must be strengthened if we are to sustain humanity’s hope for a better world and if we are to create the conditions for peace, development, cooperation and guarantee of rights for future generations.”

The synergy between faith and reason underlies Pope Benedict’s thought and action. This fundamental conviction allowed him to relaunch dialogue and cooperation with cultures and religions on challenging and productive bases.

Not long ago, The New York Times published a lucid and perspicacious analysis of Pope Benedict XVI’s ecclesial and international activity, illustrating the long-term beneficial effects produced by three statements of his, amply decried by worshippers of political correctness: His discourse at the University of Regensburg, the repeal of the excommunication of the Lefebvrists, and his statement on the limits of the use of condoms in the struggle against AIDS.

The columnist, John Berwick, noted how Pope Benedict XVI has been moving in the name of the “folly” already praised by Erasmus of Rotterdam. His high and, today more than ever, necessary moral stature derives from working in the line of that human “folly” of faith, of which the Gospels are filled, for the purpose of telling the world the things that nobody but Christ says.

Comments

You stated “if the church did not know what was going on a profound thank you to the journalists should be given…”

First, we can all agree that child abuse in any form is a heart wrenching tragedy. Certainly no one here wants to downplay the horrors of child sexual abuse.

The “bantering back and forth,” stems from the extremely skewed coverage in the media. Unbiased statistics (wikipedia for example) site the teaching profession as having the highest child sexual abuse rate. More than 5 times higher than any clergy. (Protestant or Catholic.)

If you were to say “if the schools did not know what was going on a profound thank you to the journalists should be given…if they did know and did nothing, well they’ve woven the rope that will hang them.”

Of course, we would all agree. [ And those that abused/and or covered up any sexual abuse in the church, too. We would agree.]

The problem is the intentional smear campainge by the media against the Catholic Church. You would think it was the Church with the huge percentage of abusers, not the teachers, because the media spins the story to make it look that way. Don’t people care about the victims of abuse in the schools? Who’s crying for investigations where the problem is the worst?

And what about false and flimsy accusations about the Pope? Can’t people see that these are attacks on the Church, for the sake of attacking the Church? There are some in the Catholic church (stastics show less than 1%) who are guilty of abuse, and some who are guilty of covering it up. Shame on them! And, they should be made to pay for their crimes just like everyone else.

But…Pope Benedict has done MORE to “root out” the filth, and make strong protective measures to protect children than any other person!

Posted by Tom B on Monday, Apr 12, 2010 12:19 PM (EST):

M. McGinnis writes: “If Pope Benedict knew full well a priest violated a child and didn’t remove him from the priesthood or from being around innocent children, he is just as guilty. “
Pam says: “a letter signed by Cardinal Ratzinger saying basically the concern for the reputation of the Church was above the individual. It had to do with a pedophile someone wanted defrocked.” What the people have a right to is: that the police be notified and cooperated with, and the offender if guilty be removed from any ministry that could entail contact with children. Both of these things had occurred already when this letter was penned. The priest had been convicted in a criminal court and had been removed from active ministry. ( Now latter he was allowed by a local church to go into their Youth Ministry, but that a local offence not the Vatican’s) Ironically it was the priest who was that someone who wanted formal laicization. Generally laicization is sought so the priest (yes he’s still a priest; a “priest forever”) is free to marry in church; I’m not aware of any other practical effect of laicization, as I said the important thing, removal from active ministry had already occurred. This is also the case with the priest who molested boarding students at the school for the deaf. He had decades since been removed from both teaching and ministry,and was living with his mother, when a few days prior to his death his laicization was halted.

Posted by EC on Monday, Apr 12, 2010 11:57 AM (EST):

God Bless our Pope!I know of very few people able to do so much as he does, being at the same time so much criticized. He never answered insults by insults. What an example! He keeps doing all the good he can without losing time to answer the media. What a kick in the *** of all those who would like the media to be the ultimate power of our times! God bless our Pope!

Posted by Brian on Monday, Apr 12, 2010 11:12 AM (EST):

Shouldn’t we learn a lesson about how any media outlet—whether New York Times or Fox News—treats its targets? Should we believe everything that comes out of WorldNetDaily? I highly doubt that right-wing talk-radio promotes the Culture of Life.

Posted by Annika on Monday, Apr 12, 2010 4:11 AM (EST):

if the church did not know what was going on a profound thank you to the journalists should be given…if they did know and did nothing, well then woven the rope that will hand them.

All this bantering back and forth…is sickening.

Silence and a swift cleaning of their house is the responsible thing to do….no matter how painful and enbarrasing. Suffering is redemptive and purifying…as we have been taught by the church…and the church is in need of some purifying and conversion…I wish they would repent in silence and ignore the taunting crowds and get down to work.

Posted by AllanS on Monday, Apr 12, 2010 3:57 AM (EST):

Something mangled my post. I’ll try again.

It seems the Church must foresee which sin will become fashionable to condemn in the future, and act against it now. Secular morality is arbitrary and capricious. Adultery, fornication, divorce, sodomy, abortion, pornography… these sins are lawful, even laudable, to the secular mind today, but who can tell what will be lauded tomorrow? One thing is certain: someone will be chosen to hate. The need for self-righteous judgment runs deep. To condemn a sinner is greatly comforting. It gives the accusers a delicious sense of superiority. Today, pedophiles are loathed, but gay activists are praised. This will change as surely as the wind will change, but who can guess where the whims of fashion will take us? This gives our enemies a wonderful stick with which to beat the Church. Perhaps, to forestall any future scandals, we should expel from the Church all who commit any sin whatsoever!

Allan S. You are trying to exonerate the Church by drawing a false parallel between “sins”, and accusing crazy secularists of making a self-righteuos stink about the child molestation on some sort of whim, as the “sin du jour”. But the law has been pretty firm about child molestation for an awfully long time, so I think the Church could have anticipated trouble. And while you seem contemptuous of secular thought, you and the entire Church are not exempt from secular law. You seem so uncaring about the anguish of the victims of this abuse. Where is your Christian compassion?

Posted by Kathy on Sunday, Apr 11, 2010 9:03 PM (EST):

@ mike mcginnis and John Westmeier,

First, let’s start at the beginning…he was asked if a priest could be housed in his diocese while he underwent therapy. He said yes. That’s it! Nothing more. He was not aware that the priest was a sex offender.

Here is the reality. There is a real war going on in our country between the culture of life, and the culture of death.

Those on the culture of death side know that the Catholic Church is public enemy #1, and are trying their hardest to bring it down. (They never will.)

To take the Pope, who has done more than any other person to “root out” the evil of child abuse among the clergy, and drag his good name through the mud because he allowed that priest to be housed in his diocese is beyond ridiculous.

But, the piranhas are circling, hoping for a kill…

Posted by Mia Archer on Sunday, Apr 11, 2010 7:59 PM (EST):

hey are not pinning anything on the Holy Father. They are nailing him to the crosss..!

Posted by Pam on Sunday, Apr 11, 2010 7:39 PM (EST):

Sorry but in the news yesterday was a letter signed by Cardinal Ratzinger saying basically the concern for the reputation of the Church was above the individual. It had to do with a pedophile someone wanted defrocked. Two years later Cardinal Ratzinger did defrock him. I love our Church and am deeply saddened by this. My parents spoke at one time of learning of a communist plot to destroy the Church by introducing homosexuality into the priesthood. This was in the late 50’s and early 60’s. This plot has evidently been substantiatee after the fall of communism in Russia. This is all a spiritual battle that calls for intense prayer and adherence to the true faith

Posted by AllanS on Sunday, Apr 11, 2010 6:56 PM (EST):

It seems the Church must foresee which sin will become fashionable to sometime in the future, and act against it now. Secular morality is arbitrary and capricious. ery, fornication, divorce, , abortion, ography… these sins are lawful, even laudable, to the secular mind today, but who can tell what will be lauded tomorrow? One thing is certain: someone will be chosen to . The need for self-righteous judgment runs deep. To burn a sinner is greatly comforting. It gives the accusers a delicious sense of superiority. Today, es are loathed, but gay activists are praised. This will change as surely as the wind will change, but who can guess where the whims of fashion will take us? This gives our enemies a wonderful stick with which to beat the Church. Perhaps, to forestall any future scandals, we should expel from the Church all who commit any sin whatsoever!

Posted by Elisa on Sunday, Apr 11, 2010 6:10 PM (EST):

I second what poster Karen has written. Once our late pastor spoke out about the abuse scandal.

In today’s “Washington Post” op-ed section, someone (finally) wrote about how wide spread ual abuse is in wider society. About time!

Posted by M Burke on Sunday, Apr 11, 2010 5:51 PM (EST):

To Mike McGinnis:
Just because the media may tell us something does not mean that it is 100% true. In fact, the actions of the media—blatently ignoring the GOOD that Pope Benedict XVI has done in favor of the actions of individual priests—should convince us that all the media is concerned with is to slander the Church into destruction. As members of the Church, these pedofiles—as people—are as much a part of Christ’s body as the saints, but when they sin against Him, against God, and against everything Catholicism stands for they severe themselves from Him and the Church. We can NOT fall under the dangerous, tempting assumption that because a group of priests are sex offenders, every priest is a sex offender, and that the Pope condons their actions. He is doing the exact opposite! If you read the article above then it is perfectly clear that he is doing everything in his power to “root out,” solve, and destroy this problem. He is not trying to cover up the priests’ sins; he is trying to illuminate and erradicate them. Martin Luther believed that we were all piles of shit; whenever God’s grace fell upon persons it was like snow, but no matter how much snow fell upon the pile, the person was still shit underneath. But that is NOT how Christ works, and as His emissary that is NOT how our Pope works. Just as Jesus does not work by covering up our sins with His grace, but illuminates them and gets rid of them completely, that is what Benedict XVI is doing. We CANNOT believe the lies of the media—of Satan—that our Pope is trying to cover up priests to avoid scandal, because that is NOT how Christ acts and that is NOT how our Pope acts. We CANNOT begin questioning our Pope, because when we do, where will the questions stop? At Christ’s divinity? At His teachings? At His existance? At God’s existence? The questions will not stop. So stop doubting our Pope and start believeing in him NOW.

Posted by John Westmeier on Sunday, Apr 11, 2010 4:43 PM (EST):

The media does not have to do anything to taint the image, reputation and performance of Pope Benedict XVI. He is doing an excellent job of that all by himself——with a little help from his friends.

Posted by mike mcginnis on Sunday, Apr 11, 2010 12:24 PM (EST):

You ask: Why should a non-believing journalist on the religion beat be more credible than a cardinal or a pope, or St. Catherine of Siena, who called the pope the ‘sweet Christ on Earth’?

The clear answer to that is if that journalist has dug up the truth, we Catholics deserve to know it, that’s why. We deserve to know what has not been told over the decades of the sex scandal. We deserve to know if the Pope didn’t act when he should have. We deserve to know if alter boys are around sex offenders. I don’t deny Pope Benedict is a Godly-man. I don’t deny any of the priests that were involved in sexual misconduct haven’t saved souls over their years of service. But none of their service puts them above our earthly laws. You sexually abuse a child, on this earth, you should be arrested, and face the full penalty of the law, PERIOD! You shouldn’t be able to hide Cannon law, behind any diocese, any Cardinal, any Pope. If Pope Benedict knew full well a priest violated a child and didn’t remove him from the priesthood or from being around innocent children, he is just as guilty. So, to answer your original statement of why should a non-believing journalist tell us Catholics what we should believe? The answer is, because our own leaders are not. It’s despicable, I damn the sin not the sinner. But, let’s not hide from this anymore. Let’s dig to the bottom of this hole and root out all evil. If the Pope has to go, then he has to go. You and I both know, hiding the truth this is NOT what Jesus would want.

Parish priests need to speak about this to the average person in the pew who most likely is getting his news from the secular media. Their silence just adds to the confusion.

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